Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Saturn and the Moon

Just a quick note to let y'all know to be on the lookout for Saturn. The ringed planet is coming up to its "opposition" on Sunday the 28. That simply means that Saturn, Earth and Sun will all be on a straight line and thus, the planet will be opposite the Sun in our sky. As the Sun sets in the west, Saturn will rise in the east. Although the 6th planet will be above the horizon all night, it will be easier to spot an hour or 2 after sunset when it will be higher in the sky.

Our Moon will be on duty to help you find Saturn this week. On Thursday night the full Moon will lead about 5 degrees in front of Saturn. The pair will march across the sky all night long. The next night on Friday, the Moon will trail about 10 degrees behind Saturn. Either night the brightest "star" you see near the Moon will be Saturn.

Thursday's full Moon will also experience a partial eclipse at 11:07pm Israel time. However it will be tiny, only be about 1% of the moon will be covered, so it will be nearly invisible to casual observers. We'll have a long wait till Sep 2015 before the next lunar eclipse visible from Israel.